Hurricanes Could Be Just As Bad Next Year: US Experts

SHAKE AND BLOW

Tropical storm brings unprecedented damage to Canaries
Madrid (AFP) Nov 29 - Tens of thousands of people were left without power Tuesday on Spain's Canary Islands after Tropical Storm Delta wreaked havoc on the popular winter tourist destination, killing at least seven people and causing serious damage.

by Marina de Russe

Delta struck the archipelago with winds gusting at more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake overnight before spinning off towards the Moroccan coast.

"It's just not normal, first in that a storm forming off the Azores tends to brew up further south. That it should then come east towards Europe, and to the zone and latitudes of the Canaries, is a very unusual phenomenon," said Angel Riva, of Spain's National Meteorological Institute (INM).

Riva said an unusual pattern appeared to be emerging following Tropical Storm Vince hitting Spain in October as the storm left a trail of material damage and left some 20,000 people with out power, mainly on Tenerife, Tuesday afternoon.

"With Vince it was absolutely without precedent that it should come as far as the Spanish coast and now this year we have already had two phenomena of this type.

"It seems to us that since we have had satellite images, for 20 to 30 years, there has not been another tropical storm in the Canaries.

"There have been disturbances coming from the south, but far less virulent and not as a tropical storm."

Asked what caused the storm the spokesman told AFP: "It is difficult to know. People talk about climate change and what we know is that the planet's average temperature is rising.

"Undoubtedly a rise in temperature must in some way influence these phenomena, but we don't know to what degree."

On Monday afternoon classes were suspended for 320,000 schoolchildren as Delta swooped in, the 25th storm of the year announced by the Miami-based National hurricane Centre (NHC), which said that October's Vince was the first tropical storm on record to hit the Spanish coast.

Local authorites reported that many roads were cut off and six ports had to be closed, while the Unelco-Endesa electricity company said 265,000 people were without power overnight and into Tuesday on Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

Earlier Tuesday, a local spokesman said that "an old man died at Puerto Rosario on the island of Fuerteventura," falling from his roof after dawn as he was trying to repair it.

The fatality took the casualty toll to seven with at least six sub-Saharan would-be immigrants having drowned in whipped-up seas Monday some 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the south of the islands.

According to local officials, between 10 and 12 people who were on the same vessel as the victims are listed missing and the search has been called off for more survivors after 32 others were taken badly hurt to hospital in Las Palmas.

A slew of internal flights to and from the island of La Palma, a popular destination with British and German tourists, have had to be cancelled.

One charter flight coming in from Amsterdam had to be diverted to Tenerife.

Some 400 people had to spend the night at La Palma airport as the violent winds and the heavy rain continued to afflict the vicinity as the storm headed towards the Moroccan coast, losing intensity.

At Las Palmas, a huge rock nicknamed "Finger of God" overlooking the sea and a symbol of Gran Canaria, was blown over, as were numerous palm trees, injuring one German tourist on El Hierro.

Miami (AFP) Nov 29, 2005
Marking the conclusion of the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record, US experts warned Tuesday that next year could be just as bad.

"I'd like to foretell that next year will be calmer, but I can't," said Conrad Lautenbacher, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Historical trends say the atmosphere patterns and water temperatures are likely to force another active season upon us," he said at a news conference.

hurricane hyperactivity could continue in the Atlantic basin for years to come, the experts said.

"Because we are in an active era, it's important to recognize that with a greater number of hurricanes come increasing odds of one striking land," National Weather Service Director David Johnson.

As he spoke, the National hurricane Center (NHC) announced the formation in the mid-Atlantic of Tropical Storm Epsilon, indicating the record-breaking six-month season was now likely to extend beyond its official end on Wednesday.

Of the record 26 tropical storms that formed over the Atlantic since the season started on June 1, an unprecedented 13 became hurricanes. Another record was set with three of the hurricanes ranking at category five, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.

"This year's season was indeed unprecedented, it's been six long months, said Lautenbacher, a retired US Navy vice admiral.

Max Mayfield, who heads the Miami-based NHC warned residents in hurricane-prone areas to get ready now for next year's battle against the elements.

"Everybody needs a plan," Mayfield said in Miami.

Busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record comes to an end
Miami (AFP) Nov 29 - The busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record draws to a close this week, with thousands of people in devastated New Orleans and in Central America still struggling to rebuild their lives.

by Patrick Moser

Residents along the hurricane belt heaved a sigh of relief as the threat fizzled away for now, but scientists warned that coming years could be just as intense.

Several grim records were set during the six-month season, which officially ends on November 30.

Katrina, which killed more than 1,200 people in New Orleans and other US Gulf coast areas in August, was the most expensive US hurricane and one of the deadliest. But it was just one of a record 13 Atlantic hurricanes this year.

hurricane Wilma, which slammed into Florida in October, became the most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic, with its central pressure falling to 882 millibars.

In all, an unprecedented 25 tropical storms raged in the Atlantic Basin since the season started on June 1. The previous busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record was in 1933, with 21 storms.

The death and destruction the storms wrought along the Caribbean, on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and on Florida's Atlantic coast are still evident in many areas.

In New Orleans, entire neighborhoods remain deserted, including the hardest-hit Ninth Ward which is scheduled to reopen on December 1. Friends, relatives and even insurance inspectors are still finding bodies trapped in attics and collapsed buildings.

Much of the devastation in New Orleans was caused by floodwaters after Katrina's wrath shattered levees in the famed, low-lying city.

Just as workers finished pumping out the floodwater, hurricane Rita caused renewed flooding in the "Big Easy" in October.

That same month, Stan devastated Guatemala, even though it had weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm by the time it hit the impoverished central American nation. Flashfloods and mudslides left about 2,000 people feared dead, destroyed crops, killed cattle and cut off an entire province.

Last year's Atlantic season already had been particularly busy and damaging, and forecasters believe this is part of period of intense hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin.

Several experts say the hyperactivity is likely to continue for several years, as part of what they see as a historic cycle where busy hurricane periods alternate with decades of relative calm.

"In the 1970's, there was an average of about 10 Category four and five hurricanes per year globally. Since 1990, the number of Category four and five hurricanes has almost doubled, averaging 18 per year globally," said Peter Webster, an expert at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

hurricanes that rank at category four on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale have sustained winds of between 210 and 249 kilometers (131 to 155 miles) per hour, and category five -- the highest -- has winds of above 249 kilometers (155 miles) per hour.

There are strong fears that global warming caused by emissions of greenhouse gasses is further fueling the deadly weather systems by increasing sea surface temperatures, though the theory remains controversial.

While experts disagree on whether global warming is to blame for more frequent and more intense hurricanes, most agree the risk posed by the deadly storms increases as US coastal areas become more densely populated.

"The large upward surge in hurricane damage in the US, is clearly owing to the confluence of rapidly increasing coastal population with a decadal time-scale upswing in Atlantic hurricane activity," said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology.

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SHAKE AND BLOW

Hurricane Wilma Exacts Losses Of $704M: Cuban Government

Havana (AFP) Nov 28, 2005
Hurricane Wilma, which delivered an indirect but devastating hit on Cuba last month, caused some 700 million dollars in damage across the island, officials here said Monday.

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